Trump administration announces wide-ranging immigration guidelines

A US Customs and Border Protection waits to check vehicles crossing into the United States from Mexico (Getty)

The White House has announced it will enhance enforcement of immigration laws and prevent further unauthorised immigration into the US

In two memos published on February 20, the Department of Homeland Security outlined guidelines that White House officials said would enhance enforcement of immigration laws inside the country as well as prevent further unauthorised immigration into the US.

In a February 21 news briefing, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said the guidelines include hiring more border agents, construction of a wall on the US-Mexico border, and hiring more personnel to “repatriate illegal immigrants swiftly.”

The memos by Department of Homeland Security Secretary John F Kelly also called for state and local agencies to “assist in the enforcement of federal immigration law” and for hiring “additional border patrol agents, as well as “500 Air and Marine Agents/Officers.” The cost of implementing such programmes, whether there’s enough funding and how Congress will be involved, was not discussed.

While there have been two arrests under the new administration involving recipients of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, known as DACA, it was not mentioned in the new guidelines. The programme grants a reprieve from deportation and allows a work permit for those who were brought as minors to the US without legal permission.

In the news briefing, Spicer said the guidelines were meant to prioritize for deportation anyone who was a criminal or posed a threat in some form, but he also said “laws are laws” and that anyone in the country who is here without permission is subject to removal at any time.

The memos addressed the issue of unaccompanied minors who cross the border, fleeing violence in their home countries or seeking reunification with family in the US. They said that “regardless of the desire of family reunification,” smuggling or trafficking is “intolerable” and said “exploitation of that policy led to abuses by many of the parents and legal guardians.”

Department of Homeland Security workers, the memo also said, should prioritise for deportation “removable aliens” who “have abused any programme related to receipt of public benefits.”

Reports from major outlets such as the New York Times and the Washington Post said the administration in a conference call said it was seeking to calm fears among immigrant communities by saying only those who “pose a threat or have committed a crime” need to worry about being priorities. But during the news briefing, when asked about a woman who was deported despite having no major criminal convictions, Spicer said he wouldn’t comment on specific cases.

After drafts of memos leaked out in mid-February proposing use of the National Guard in immigration operations, the Associated Press reported that the New Mexico’s Catholic bishops called the ideas in the memos “a declaration of some form of war.” AP provided documents to back up the claim but the White House denied it and the final guidelines made no mention of the National Guard.

Catholic leaders have been urging dignity and respect for migrants and have acknowledged the rampant fear among communities.

The Conference of Major Superiors of Men on February 21 issued a statement denouncing the recent arrest by immigration officials of six men exiting a hypothermia shelter at Rising Hope Mission Church in Alexandria, Virginia, saying it violated Immigration and Customs Enforcement policy “not to conduct enforcement actions at or near ‘sensitive locations’ like houses of worship.”

The conference said it invited “others to join us in denouncing these deportation efforts that harm the ‘least of our brothers and sisters.’ We especially denounce the irreverence, disrespect and violation of sensitive locations, such as houses of worship and ministry which belong to God and the erosion of our Constitutional right to be free from religious oppression by our government.”